


One Cold Night

by embroiderama



Category: White Collar
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Winter, newlyweds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-12 01:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1180156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embroiderama/pseuds/embroiderama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first winter Peter and El lived in their house came with a few challenges.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Cold Night

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for [](http://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=aragarna)[**aragarna**](http://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=aragarna) for [](http://fandom-stocking.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://fandom-stocking.dreamwidth.org/)**fandom_stocking**.

El loved the house, she really did. It was wonderful to have her own beautiful little house in Brooklyn to live in with her husband, and it was wonderful to be married to a man like Peter Burke who was solid and responsible and kind and, well, hot. Owning a home was a learning curve for both of them, and there were definite downsides to no longer being able to call the landlord or the building superintendent to fix anything that went wrong. The house was in good shape for its age, but problems popped up more often than El had imagined.

Their first Christmas in the new house, their second Christmas as husband and wife, had been perfect--or as close to perfect as anybody could expect. Peter had brought home a big tree, and they'd decorated it together over spiked hot cocoa and homemade cookies. Instead of traveling to visit either set of parents during the holiday itself, they stayed home and had a sweet, intimate Christmas with just the two of them, warm in the haven of their new home.

A week into the new year, in the middle of a cold snap that, combined with the windy weather, made it feel like winter itself was trying to reach inside the house with icy drafts that made El long for a vacation somewhere warm. Belize, Florida, anywhere that she could sleep without her feet getting cold despite blankets and socks and the furnace chugging away below. Since a vacation wasn't in the budget, she just cuddled up next to Peter and told herself that the weather would change soon.

It didn't change soon enough. On one of the coldest nights, El woke up at 2am, shivering like she'd tossed off the covers and rolled away from Peter, but as she woke more fully she realized that the covers were still pulled up over her shoulders, and she was still curled up against Peter's side. Her nose was especially cold, and when she maneuvered her arm out from under the covers she shook with a renewed bout of shivers and quickly covered up again.

"Peter." El shook his shoulder. "Honey? Peter?"

"Hmm, what?" Peter sat up as he woke, and then his eyes opened wide. "Cold! It's goddamn cold in here!"

El pulled the covers close where Peter was letting the cold air in. "That's why I was waking you up."

Peter rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. "I'll go look at the furnace."

"Thank you," El said, and she watched from her relatively warm cocoon as Peter pulled on slippers and a robe and headed out to the hallway. She listened to him walk down the stairs and then his footsteps became distant as he went down to the basement. El waited to hear the chug of the furnace starting up, but after she'd waited a while all she heard was Peter's returning footsteps.

He was wearing his wool overcoat and looked unhappy but resigned. "I think the furnace is dead. I brought the old heater though, and I think if we close the bedroom door it'll at least take the chill off."

"Oh, good idea!" The heater had been their salvation at their old apartment, where the heat had been controlled throughout the building so that they needed their own heat cold days early in the fall or into spring. Peter plugged it in and turned it on, and El imagined that she could feel the heat radiating from it immediately, a warm draft in the ice cold room.

Then the heater turned off. And everything turned off. Peter left to go mess with the circuit breakers and returned too quickly, looking downtrodden. "It's the whole house. Damn it, I'm sorry, El. I--"

"Stop, it's not your fault." El braced herself for the cold, then quickly got out of bed and pulled on her warmest robe and slippers in the dim streetlight coming in from outside. "We'll both go so I can hold the flashlight."

Peter nodded sullenly, and El found the flashlight they kept in the bedroom--Peter always made sure they were prepared--and followed him down the stairs, shining the light where they both could use it. The basement was, somehow, even colder than their bedroom, and in the flashlight beam El could see Peter's fingers shaking as he pulled open the circuit breaker box. None of the switches would flip on, no matter how many times Peter tried, and finally he pushed the cover closed with more effort than necessary and leaned his head against it. "I'm so sorry."

El put her hand on his back. "It's not your fault. Come on, let's just go back to bed."

"We should go get a hotel room."

El thought about it for a moment then shook her head. "No way. I don't love the idea of getting dressed and going outside where it's even _colder_ , and really, with the money we're going to have to spend on a new furnace probably?"

"And an electrician. I know. I just hate to think of you being uncomfortable."

"Aw, honey. I'll live." El took Peter's arm in hers and aimed them both toward the stairs. "Let's find all the covers in the whole house and just bundle up as best we can."

"I'm glad I have such a pragmatic wife. Okay, let's go."

They jogged up the stairs, and El went to the living room to pick up the afghan and the woven throw that they kept by the sofa. She grabbed their winter hats, gloves and scarves as well, then went upstairs where Peter was bringing a pile of blankets and covers in from the storage room that they were planning to make into a guest room. They spread everything out on the bed, overlapping the layers that were smaller than the bed itself then bundled up as much as possible without actually suffocating themselves then climbed under the covers and spooned together on their sides.

The mountain of blankets was heavy, oppressive almost, but as the warmth began to build between and around them El sighed and relaxed back into Peter. "I love you, honey," she whispered, just in case Peter had fallen asleep.

"I love you, too," he said, and then he nuzzled his head in and pushed her hair aside to press a kiss on the side of her neck. He pulled her in closer, squishing the layers of clothing between them, and warm there in Peter's arms she fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This story has a timestamp [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2166360/chapters/4737246).


End file.
